POTENTIAL COMMERCIALISATION OF THE QUAIL INDUSTRY

12 October 2020

 The rearing of quail has been considered as one of a profitable industry for the local market. Quail’s meat is one of the choices for consumers that prefer the soft texture of its meat and the taste. In normal practice, quail are reared in a small-scale farm in which the eggs are the main products while the meat are essentally sold as a secondary product.

There are five common species of quail namely Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), Stone quail (Coturnix chinensis), Java quail (Arborophila javonica), Crown quail (Rollulus roulroul) dan Soil quail (Turnix suscitator) that can be found in our country. Among the sub-species of quail used for both meat and egg productions that are well known throughout the world American Bobwhite, California quail, Common Quail, Rail Quail and Chinese Painted Quail. The original habitat for this bird was in the forest, agricuture land, dried paddy field or marshes. This animal is known for its shy behaviour, feral, fast mover and easily startled when approached by humans.

  
Quails’ eggs contains a rich source of nutrient and is believed can be used to cure some form of skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis. In addition, the eggs has a much lower cholesterol level compared to chicken eggs making it the choice of a certain quarters of the community.

 In Malaysia, quail are reared similar as chicken but requires only a small scale housing and farm area. The requirement are dependent on the farmer themselves and normally, the size of the housing to accommodate 10, 000 birds requires only a 10 meter in width X 21 meter in length and 3.3 meter in height. The space to rear one bird requires only an area of 210 meter square and usually are reared in wooden boxes.

 Among the difficulties that are faced by this industry are the cost of the feed and its source together with the processing of quails’ meat. To overcome this problem, farmer sometimes replace the feed with ones used for broiler chickens since quail feed is not sold in a smaller scale and this will further burden the smallholders. The different sizes of quail is making the sales of the meat being achieved through grading system.

 

 

This article has been prepared for University Agriculture Park, UPM

Written by Dr. Muhammad Azrolharith bin Rashid, Veterinary Officer

Images courtesy of myagri.com.my

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date of Input: 12/10/2020 | Updated: 12/10/2020 | mahr